How to take a good picture of your artwork for posting

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Permalink Reply by David Robins on June 11, 2008 at 6:36pm

Have to agree Kammy, can't beat a tripod, or some sort of support for the camera, also be careful using a flash, especially if the painting is still wet, you get flashback, also flashes tend to bleach the colour out of your photograph.

Dave

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Permalink Reply by Marilyn K on June 11, 2008 at 7:04pm

Thanks yall, I'll try that. What would be the best setting to use on the camera???

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Permalink Reply by David Robins on June 11, 2008 at 7:08pm

Dunno, mines a point and shoot digital, only has two settings, on and off. :-)

Dave

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Permalink Reply by Kristy on June 11, 2008 at 7:35pm

I have heard to take your artwork outside on a sunny day in the shade. I have tried it a couple of times and it worked great. It also helps to rest your camera on something so there isn't any movement on your part. Like try a tri-pod.

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Permalink Reply by Marilyn K on June 11, 2008 at 7:53pm

Well, I retook the pictures and reposted them. Your suggestions worked like a charm. Thanks yall.

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Permalink Reply by philip wegner on June 11, 2008 at 8:24pm

Hi Marilyn- Think the first item required is a good camera.About a year ago I purchased my first digital camera, good quality ,10millpixels.Really sharp pictures, which,when enlarged,retain their sharpness.I slot the sd card into my printer which imports them straight to my pics folders.
Back to taking a good quality photo.Place your artwork in plenty of light.I take mine outside and lean it against a wall, shed etc.Next,you need a steady hand, or, ideally a tripod.The camera I use has an anti-shake mode,which compensates for unsteady hands,making it a whole lot easier.
Good quality digital cameras are coming down in price as they become even more sophisticated.No sooner had I purchased mine,a similar model came along sporting 12mill.pixels.Soon,we'll all be able to take pics,6ft.x 4ft. that will still retain their sharpness.What next?

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Permalink Reply by Larry on June 14, 2008 at 12:47pm

See the previous discussion started back in April. Hope this helps. LDJ

http://community.how-to-draw-and-paint.com/forum/topic/show?id=2036...

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Permalink Reply by Allison Prior on July 16, 2008 at 4:42pm

If your painting will fit your scanner, that is the best way for sure, if not, I take serveral pictures at different lighing, and distance,and zooming in and out, I just keep taking pictures till I get a good one, but as you can see I still have some problems with some...

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Permalink Reply by Robert on July 17, 2008 at 1:52pm

Hi Marilyn,
I take my pictures outside and lay them on the deck and then stand over them and shoot.

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Permalink Reply by Avocetz on July 18, 2008 at 12:22pm

Hi Marilyn.

At the moment I dont have a scanner. All my work so far has been on A4 paper so that is the best option for me and I do plan to get one soon.

This is what I currently do. I bluetac the picture to the fridge in the kitchen as it is has even lighting. I set my digital camera so the flash is off as if you leave it on it bounces back off the paper and looks horrible. I also set the camera to macro mode and then take two or three images making sure I fill the viewfinder with the whole image but without chopping any off. Upload to computer and use Photoshop to crop the picture to exclude any unwanted detail surrounding it. I also use the brightness and contrast settings to compensate for not using flash. If you dont have photoshop, I think there is other software which you can use and it may even be free. Suggest you do a search on google for that.

Hope this helps

Chris

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Permalink Reply by Ken Bryant on August 10, 2008 at 7:19pm

Hi Marilyn
I scan my art work then put it on a file on my computer this way you can crop the painting as you want and when you want to put it on show you take which ever one you want and post it but when I take photos with my camera I always make sue the flash is off and I always take 4 or 5 to make sure one will be just right.
but you could go into about.com:painting this site will answer any problemon art work I have had a lot of help from it,
Regards Ken

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Permalink Reply by Michael Brinkley on August 10, 2008 at 9:52pm

About 5 years ago I purchased one of these:

http://www.dcviews.com/press/HP-Scanjet-4670.htm

This is an upright scanner from HP. The glorious aspect of this scanner is that there is no limit to the size or original that you can scan. The trick is that the scanning bed is completely removable. You take your art and lay it face up on a table or floor, then lay the scanning bed down on top of it and scan a section. It will scan about a section about 9x12 in size. You make as many scans as you need to get your entire work of art, then piece those sections together in an image editing software. I use Adobe Photoshop because I happen to have it. But there are several utilities that you can use to connect the pieces together.

When I purchased this one it ran around $200. I do not know what similar scanners these days might run, but they are well worth the money.

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